Former Auburn defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder is returning to the Alabama high school ranks.

VanGorder was approved Thursday night to once again be the defensive coordinator for Gulf Shores High School.

VanGorder held that post for the 2021 season before leaving to become head coach at American Heritage-Delray (Fla.) High. He resigned from that job earlier this week.

At Gulf Shores, he replaces another former Auburn defensive coordinator in Paul Rhoads. A former Iowa State head coach, Rhoads left earlier this month to return to college coaching at Boston College.

“The big positive will be a quick transition for us,” Gulf Shores head coach Mark Hudspeth said. “We will be without a defensive coordinator for a very limited time. We also have a coach coming in who knows our culture, who understands how we do things here and knows our routine and our players.

“Brian is also familiar with this league and, on top of that, he brings a wealth of experience. It’s not everyday you have an assistant coach on staff who has been a coordinator in the NFL and for multiple Power 5 colleges.”

VanGorder spent the 2012 season as Auburn’s defensive coordinator.

He won the Broyles Award in 2003 as the top assistant coach in the nation while coaching at Georgia. His college career also has included defensive coordinator stops at Bowling Green, UCF, Central Michigan, Western Illinois, Notre Dame and Louisville.

VanGorder had NFL stops in Jacksonville, Atlanta and with the New York Jets. He was defensive coordinator for the Falcons from 2008-2011 before being hired at Auburn. He served as head coach of three Florida high schools early in his career.

How did Hudspeth get him to return to Gulf Shores?

“I just told him that we sure could use his leadership again,” Hudspeth said. “I think he loves being a coordinator and being the head coach of one side of the football and maybe wants to deal less with some of the head coaching stuff that I have to deal with sometimes. He loves it here, and he loves the kids. It’s a good fit.”

Hudspeth said VanGorder would start Monday, the same day Gulf Shores is set to start middle school spring practice. Hudspeth said varsity spring practice will start April 17. He doesn’t expect too much of a transition time between Rhoads’ scheme and what VanGorder will bring.

“Paul kept a lot of the same terminology that Brian had when he was here,” Hudspeth said. “We didn’t have a lot of crossover training so now the transition back will be less of a learning curve also. Brian will be here Monday and will meet the team, and we will be ready to hit the ground running full speed for spring training.”

Gulf Shores is coming off the best season in school history. The Dolphins won 11 games in 2022 and reached the Class 5A quarterfinals.